World record holder Joshua Cheptegei and several other likely contenders had never attempted the distance during the season.

After the first few laps all three Ethiopian runners, defending champion Selemon Barega, Yomif Kejelcha and Berihu Aregawi congealed to the front of the large pack.

Immediately behind them Grant Fisher, Benard Kibet and Mohammed Ahmed positioned themselves to watch the proceedings, but with the games being played at the front of the pack, very few athletes were falling off the back.

At that same moment, Fisher caught the heel of a slowing Aregawi, stepping on the curb and nearly falling.

But after falling back to 7th place in the re-shuffling, Aregawi sprinted around the outside to roar past everyone but Cheptegei to steal the silver from Fisher by 2 hundredths of a second.

Thierry Ndikumwenayo, Adriaan Wildschutt and Jimmy Gressier set new national records for Spain, South Africa and France respectively.